Anybody upgrade from a 756 ProIII to Icom 7600 ?

[KD8MJR]

Thinking about upgrading I am just wondering if someone on eham has made the switch and are you happy with the upgrade?  I guess I want to know was it honestly worth it and did you feel the $1600 price difference was a good investment?

Thanks
Robert

[W7ETA]

Have you looked up test results in QST?

I remember seeing the test results 706 on Sherwood Engineering site.

73
Bob

[K0YQ]

If crowded band performance is your primary motivation for upgrading the Inrad roofing filter mod for the 756Pro3 can get you fairly close to the IMD performance of the 7600 for around $300 installed.  Just a thought...

[KD8MJR]

Thanks guys, I have looked at the Sherwood numbers but I was really looking for someone who made the upgrade to tell me if overall they felt it was worth it. I thought of buying the In rad filter mod but I think the 7600 has a lot more than just a 6khz roofing filter going for it with nice features like digital NR and NB and overall better specs.
I could go on the reflector forums and ask but I think the answers will not be as usefull as ones I get here.

[K9MHZ]

Adam, VA7OJ, has a page on his web site that deals with that very subject.  He has a LOT of info online to sift through, and I couldn't find it just before writing this, so you may have to email him if you have trouble finding it.

Good luck.

 

[WA2ONH]

Adam Farson VA7OJ / AB4OJ does have a large ICOM page at:

LINK: http://www.ab4oj.com/

ICOM Section LINK: http://www.ab4oj.com/icom/main.html

... and Adam is the Yahoo Group moderator for:

IC-756PRO3 LINK: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ic756pro3/

IC-7600 LINK: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/icom7600/

Good Luck!

[KD8MJR]

Thanks for the links, I visited the pages and there is a ton of info.

[HB9PJT]

The IC-756ProIII has a much better AGC than the IC-7600 according to Rob Sherwood:

Yes my Pro III also does NOT have the AGC problem either. Every Icom newer than
the Pro III does have the AGC problem. I am not up for going back to how I ran
my National NC-2-40C in 1961 and ride the RF gain either. I owned the 7800,
borrowed a 7600 and borrowed a 7410. The borrowed rigs were in the rural QTH
shack for 2 months, so it was a fair test.

I just got off the air at my Denver QTH, and my Omni-VII has the same problem as
the Icoms. Ditto the FTdx-5000D. I simply will not put up with that kind of
AGC. Eventually my IC-751A will come back to Denver. No AGC problems with it
either, as one would expect.

Source: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/KenwoodTS-590/message/10513

73, Peter - HB9PJT

[HB9PJT]

Yes John, that is the AGC problem. The IC-751A does work better. Or you can also take a Kenwood TS-590 when you prefer a more modern rig without the AGC problem.

73, Peter - HB9PJT

[HB9PJT]

If it needs a repair maybe you cannot afford it. Or no spare parts anymore.

73, Peter - HB9PJT

[KH6DC]

I had both 756 Pro II --->756 ProIII --->7600----> Elecraft K3.  the icoms couldn't cut through all the powerline , fluorescent lighting, plasma tv, cellphone tower, wall wart noises, etc. in my neighborhood.  I live in the pits of Honolulu and none of the Icoms could at least muffle the noise to pull in the weak dxpeditions.  The K3 does, period and till amazes me.  I used to live in Central Oahu and the Pro II was fine and I could hear and work light statiosn, even with my vertical antenna.  When I moved back to town, it's excruiating and I was going to give up radio until people told me about the K3 and how it performs.  Rob Sherwood's tables says it all.

That being said, I'm sure you're area is not as noisy as here so here's my preference of the 3:

Pro III to me was better than the 7600.  I liked the 7600 casue of the eye candy but to me the Pro III had a more robust filtering/DSP system than the 7600 and they contained the Icom filters (not Inrads).  I tested all 3 at a friend's house in Central Oahu farther away from town and both he and I picked the Pro III.

73, Delwyn KH6DC

[K2DFC]

Robert,
I was forced into an upgrade from the PRO III to the 7600 by a lightning strike. I really liked the PRO III. The 7600 took some getting used to. After I found the right color combination for the band scope that best matched that of the PRO III I was happy. The noise blanker works better on the 7600. And the USB cable to the computer from the 7600 for rig control is a big plus. I see no real difference in the receiver performance between the two. Both are great radios.

Fred K2DFC